‘Let them pay interest, ‘Trump’s multi-millionaire commerce secretary Wilbur Ross tells federal employees who are running out of cash they should BORROW some – and he did not ‘quite understand’ why they are going to food banks.’ Daily Mail
The last queen of France before the French revolution, Marie Antoinette, is purported to have said, ‘Let them eat cake,’ after being told that the peasants did not have bread to eat. Wikipedia
‘On Wednesday night, unions representing aviation workers-including air traffic controllers, pilots, and flight attendants-released an ominous statement warning that the ongoing government shutdown, now in its 33rd day, posses serious safety risks for its members and for the larger traveling public.’ Mother Jones
‘We cannot even calculate the level of risk currently at play.’ Mother Jones
President Trump’s, daughter-in-law, Lara Trump said that the government shutdown is a, ‘bit of a pain,’ for federal workers…but that the future of our country was bigger than any one person.
How about 800,000 persons?
Many years ago I was caught up in a political game or two, that reminds me of our current government shut-down crisis.
The university was experiencing a financial shortfall due to declining enrollment, which was over 20,000 at the time, and, thus, administration decided that they were going to lay-off 80% of the housekeeping staff.
When I requested an emergency meeting with the vice chancellor of administration, to inform him about the, physical devastation, as well as the level of risk to our most critical priority which was the recruitment and retention of students, I was granted a meeting that same day!
I explained that I was aware that our financial instability was directly caused by the precipitous drop in our enrollment and the, ongoing challenge of retaining our students, that we did succeed in convincing to attend our wonderful school.
I promised that the university, with the loss of 80% of our cleaning staff…would immediately become unkempt and filthy…and that there would be no chalk for the chalkboards and debris blocking the doors of the classrooms as well as rest rooms that would not pass a board of health inspection!
I told the vice chancellor to not attempt to call me with the plethora of complaints that he would received, from the first day, because I would, personally, be dedicating 16 hours per day in the project of putting toilet tissue and paper towels in the rest rooms…as there would be no one to accomplish this, vital, task!
I asked the vice chancellor if he did not think that someone should inform the chancellor, who is the CEO of the organization, regarding the impending devastation?
He not only agreed with me but, telephoned the chancellor and went to meet with him while I was in his office. When he returned he told me that the chancellor had said that he may have to go through with the, severe cut in Building Services budget…to make a point!
Simply put…the obliteration of the custodial staff did not have to be made due to fiscal exigency…but for political expediency!
And, so we face the devastation of 800,000 federal employees…and the lack of protection at our airports by the TSA…because they do not have the gasoline to get to work or the money to pay for their childcare…or food to eat…
We state that our air traffic controllers are undergoing, ‘a bit of pain’, but their pain is not as important as the…wall…what if a airliner crashes due to the. ‘bit of pain’…that the controllers are undergoing for the…political point?
If your child is hungry…and you do not have any money to feed her/him…and you think of the, obscure, concept of a wall, of which we have more than one along the 2,000 mile southern border…and if you consider that the wall that your child is going hungry for…will not be built for years, if the money is obtained….and that it will never be built from sea to shinning sea……try explaining that concept to your hungry baby!
The Happy Traveler 